[GNC-dev] pricedb policy

[David T.]

The ONLY way to change the value in a transaction is to change it in the transaction itself—either by changing the number of shares, the actual price per share, or the total amount in the transaction (and note that the UI will ask you about this if you change one without changing the others). The price db doesn’t and shouldn’t push changes into existing real transactions.

Changing the valuation in a transaction based on a price db change is the path to madness.

The price db is for reporting on potential valuation. The transactions represent what actually happened. If I paid $100 for 10 shares of ABC stock, it doesn’t matter that the going price for ABC on the same day is $1 per share—I’m still out $100 (and pretty gullible, too, I’d say).

David T.


> On May 13, 2018, at 7:20 PM, Adrien Monteleone <adrien.monteleone at lusfiber.net> wrote:
> 
> Christopher,
> 
> I’ll add a complication for you.
> 
> Suppose one enters a transaction and later realizes the price source was not correct.
> 
> Does editing the originally generated user:price affect the transactions in the register? Are they in-sync or now unrelated?
> 
> If editing user:price does not change the register, does that mean you have to edit the register entries (or use correcting entries) and if so, does this alter the original user:price? (or add another?)
> 
> If the two get out of sync, how do you determine what is the true source to use to regenerate upon loading and Check&Repair?
> 
> Regards,
> Adrien
> 
>> On May 13, 2018, at 5:34 AM, Christopher Lam <christopher.lck at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Hi Devs
>> 
>> I wish to enquire about policy on pricedb.
>> 
>> As far as I can understand, pricedb receives entries from 3 different
>> sources:
>> 
>> 1. from entering transactions into the register, if the transaction
>> involves a foreign currency conversion or stock. e.g. originating account
>> is GBP, target currency is USD --> creates a pricedb entry GBP/USD. (can't
>> determine which one is deemed to be the base currency). These pricedb
>> entries are tagged "user:price" or "user:xfer-dialog".
>> 
>> 2. from online sources eg alphavantage. This requires careful setup, and
>> seems to create price entries for all foreign currencies / commodities,
>> compared to the book currency (in my case AUD). These are tagged
>> "Finance::Quote".
>> 
>> 3. entries added by the user. These are tagged "user:price-editor".
>> 
>> From my review of code so far, pricedb entries are rather important in
>> reports... an incorrect pricedb entry will lead to incorrect foreign
>> currency reporting, even if the transaction contains the exact transfer
>> amount.
>> 
>> My concerns relate to (1) above. I believe these transactional prices are
>> always more accurate than online quotes, because they describe the exact
>> prices achieved.
>> 
>> But it's buggy, e.g. if there are 2 transactions involving GBP/USD on the
>> same day, the second entered price will overwrite the first. (<- according
>> to my last test)
>> 
>> I'd think it would be important for accuracy that, upon book opening, and
>> Check&Repair, the user:price data should be *overwritten* by the actual
>> prices obtained from the transactions. Moreover if there are several
>> transactions involving commodities, Check&Repair should **add** relevant
>> amounts to ensure accurate pricing.
>> 
>> e.g.
>> 01/01/2018 Transfer 100 GBP to 150 USD (generates pricing 1.5 USD/GBP)
>> 01/01/2018 Transfer 100 GBP to 152 USD (generates pricing 1.52 USD/GBP)
>> 
>> should generate a price for "200 GBP to 302 USD -> pricing 1.51 USD/GBP)
>> 
>> Unfortunately I don't do C so cannot help with coding, but would think that*
>> the "user:price" prices should *always* be regenerated from the transaction
>> amounts during Check & Repair and upon loading datafile.*
>> 
>> Thoughts?
>> _______________________________________________
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>> gnucash-devel at gnucash.org
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>> 
> 
> 
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